Our patrol shift assignments were by seniority. So old guys who wanted a normal life schedule took days. Old guys who hated brass took nights because the highest rank they encountered was a LT. New guys went to second shift, or nights if there was an opening that no one wanted. Working nights was not for me because I couldn't adjust to days off and then back on. The sweet spot for me was afternoon/second.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
If you area has it you might want to look into a reserve program, unless you have truly decided that you don't want to stay in your current career and the money is good enough to make you walk away. Nearly 11 years ago I started as a reserve deputy as a way to get my name out there and as a stepping stone to a full time job. By the time the county started hiring again my current salary was too much to walk away from. I still constantly think about going full time if I could make it work financially for my family. One of our long time crime analysts mentioned our best investigators started their lives in other careers. Having multiple ways to look at the world instead of just an LE outlook tends to help.
What I have noticed about those that go the reserve route first is they tend to stay in the LE career for life if they do go full time, or even retire as a reserve. When you actually know what to expect (vs maybe doing a few ride alongs) it makes things a lot easier. I personally mentored quite a few reserves that are now full time deputies.
As for the shift stuff, at my department most of the older guys work days. Swing is usually the guys with 2-15 years and 3rd shift or Graves is where most of the rookies end up. With Swing most can still live a somewhat normal off duty life, but Graves they can't really transfer to a normal schedule when off.
Some people can easily adjust to nights. Most people cannot. I’m a natural nightfighter, and always have been.
I have worked 11-7 by choice since August of 1977.
I'm single so I don't have to worry about kids or a wife waking me up in the middle of the day. The phone with the answering machine is in the living room.
I have thick blackout curtains on the windows of my bedroom. And a ceiling fan to provide white noise. I sleep best in a cold environment, so I keep the A/C turned on in the summer and the heat turned down low in the winter.
I usually go to sleep between 8 and 9 in the morning and get up about 5 in the afternoon.
I like the midnight shift because it leaves my evenings free, and I can do whatever I want before work, as long as it doesn't involve consuming alcohol. (The indoor range at the gun club I belong to is available to 9 o’clock now which is wonderful)
As far as caffeine goes, I try to fire up about two hours before shift, or have a big cup of coffee in briefing, and then try to avoid any heavy caffeine the rest of the shift. No caffeine the last 4 or 5 hours of the tour unless I'm desperate.
I usually drink tea at home, coffee in the PD and iced green tea on the road.
Sometimes I take half a generic Tylenol PM before sleeping. It usually works pretty well but not always.
I have experimented with melatonin at different doses at different times over the years but it didn't seem to have any particular effect for me.
Most noise doesn't bother me when sleeping. The neighbor kids can play right under my bedroom window and I sleep right through it. Same with lawnmowers or snow plows.
I used to have problem staying asleep in the summer when the sun is really bright -- I would wake up at about 1pm and have difficulty getting back to sleep. That isn’t as much of a problem since I moved into Dad’s old house because he had worked nights for years and had blackout curtains in the bedroom. That room stays DARK.
On my first day off, I usually go to bed about 9am and then wake up by 2pm. I can then (usually) go back to sleep again about midnight. (My understanding is, if you stay up too much after 11pm your body thinks you’re going to be awake all night and releases cortisol to keep you awake)
Often if I go to bed early (9pm or so) I wake up again about 3:30 and then can’t get back to sleep until 8 or 9 in the morning. Which sucks if the plan of the day involves working a day shift (which I try to avoid) or attending a class or a pistol match or a training event, because I tend to start getting fogged in about noon.
On my first day back I don't have any fixed routine -- I have tried but found nothing that worked particularly well other than a short nap in late afternoon before going to work.
My dad worked the midnight shift as a mechanical supervisor for many years. He is NOT a natural “night person” but he was very disciplined in his sleep pattern and he made it work for about 25 years. On his first day off (Friday), he’d go to bed at 8am and get up shortly after noon and then be up and able to sleep at night for the next few nights. On his first day back (Sunday) he’d get up about 5am and be up until about 2pm, and then he’d go to sleep until about 6pm and then wake up and have dinner and then go in to work at 10. That worked for him for a long time.
I know lots of guys who stay up all day on their first day off (like go 24+ hours awake) I have almost never done that unless I had training or OT or court or something during the day that precluded my going to sleep.
I can still go in at 3pm and work a double shift pretty well, but now that I'm 60+ I can't work all night and then work all day anymore. At least not usually.
One thing I have learned is that I ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT eat after work before going to sleep.
I put on weight if I even THINK about doing that. And now that I'm old, I get heartburn if I eat and then try to sleep.
I usually have a protein shake when I get home, and then go to sleep.
For me, having the room really dark isn't essential. It just has to be shadowy. Temperature seems to be a bigger factor. But, the darker the better.
But everybody has different experiences, and people’s preferences will probably change over time
Some people can easily adjust to nights. Most people cannot. Whether or not you can adjust to working nights is something that people should think through when considering law enforcement or any other career that operates on a 24/7 schedule.
I always thought that was something that should be considered during the selection process for any job involving non-traditional hours – has the applicant ever worked a job where they worked evenings or nights, and weekends and holidays?
Most of the jobs I have worked in the last 40 years have had rotating days off.
My favorite schedule was 6/3 with 8-1/2 hour days.
I am surprised that there are departments in 21st century America that still work a straight 5/2. Who wants to be stuck with Monday and Tuesday as days off for years?
At my agency, you would have a choice of 2p-10p second shift or 10p-6a third/night shift. You would also, being the new guy, be required to be a part of the riot platoon and you would start out with Tues/Wed or Wed/Thur off days. Years ago, when I started and retention/hiring wasn't an issue, it took YEARS to advance to first shift (6a-2p) but now it's about a five year process. You would also not be eligible for special units for at least 2 years nor would you be eligible for advancement to detectives or supervision.Originally Posted by RyanM
That's on paper. Realistically it's more like 5 years before people move from patrol as they don't really have it all figured out enough to advance.
All of this varies from agency to agency.
Regards.
As someone who left corporate America at 35 and took a 40% pay cut for the job, I say go for it. A number of things played into my decision—the biggest being I knew I would regret NOT becoming a cop for the rest of my life. I knew I would grow old and look back with regret if I didn’t get into the job. I’d really wanted to be a first responder since I was a kid, though. So the desire was always there for me, even if it was put on the back burner. In my state, there is a civil service age limit and I was bumping right up to that. Be sure your state doesn’t have that or else go balls to the wall like I did. I made the age restriction by mere months.
The only regret I’ve had in the career was not bouncing out of the agency where I started when I had a chance. I’m in a different agency now and MUCH happier, but it was quite the path to walk to get here. I’m glad I’m a cop now. I love the job. There are all kinds of pros and cons and it’s much more like corporate America than you’d expect. In fact, despite the bullshit I went through at my old agency, I faced more BS and more politics in the private sector. Don’t burn any bridges at your old career and you have nothing to lose by trying.
Feel free to PM me as you are in the shoes I wore a few years ago.
I know a guy that was comfortably retired until his wife took half in a divorce. Suddenly he needed to go back to work in a rural area without much opportunity. Anyway, he went through the academy at age 62 - the oldest recruit they'd had up to that point - and wound up working until a bout with cancer took too much out of him at 75. But he was a lifelong outdoorsman in phenomenal shape.
Thank you! PM sent.
Sorry to hear about your colleague's cancer. That aside, very interesting. So at 62 he was out patrolling just like any new officer?
For a while. He finished his career working in the jail
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